next. return of the clown car. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm in washington. let me start tonight with this. warning, ladies and gentlemen, especially ladies, we've got one republican senate candidate saying women can't be trusted to know what a rape is. along comes another saying something about god's will and we have to incarcerate a woman who doesn't want to have a child that's the result of a rape. well, yes, we're back in the clown car with lots more guys wearing the crazy hats and shaking their noisemakers. thought you had seen the last of rick santorum and the rest of those characters from the primaries? not so. we have paul ryan and his personhood amendment aboard. a republican platform giving 14th amendment rights, including the right to property, to fertilized human egg. who cares about the woman.

nine days to go and none of the right wing men are getting off. but the big question is how many women want to stay aboard this clown car for the next four or eight years. and how funny will it be when these characters are actually in charge? our guests are alex wagner, star of msnbc's "now" each day at noon eastern. and terry o'neil, president of the national organization for women. thank you for joining us. i want to go through some things to set this up. president obama is keeping the pressure on, as you can see in the last days of the campaign, and linking mitt romney to richard mourdock. that's the guy from -- what's that state, wisconsin, indiana, including on jay leno last night. let's listen to the president. >> i don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. let me make a very simple proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. the second thing that's underscored though is this is exactly why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about

women's health care decisions. >> well, that went over pretty well out there. that's nonport san crowd generally. the president went further pointing out the next president's influence over the supreme court is going to be enormous. we have a lot of older justices. let's listen. >> you've got a supreme court that, you know, typically a president is going to have probably another couple of appointments during the course of his term, and roe vor sus wade is probably hanging in the balance. >>ed to at a rally in tampa, florida, the president alluded to mourdock when he laid out the stakes for women in this election. let's listen here. >> by the way, while we're at it, as we saw again this week, i don't think any politician in washington, most of whom are male, should be making health care decisions for women. >> teri o'neil, i want to go with you first.

we have a person who is an expert on this topic. thanks for coming on for the national organization for women. it is for women. >> it is for women. >> not just of women but it is for women. let's all talk about the cause. you get a guy like todd akin come along and said that rape is not really rape because you can't trust a woman. why would a woman claim rape? why would you do this anyway? number two, because only unless you outlaw abortion except in case of rape would it ever come up. only in his crazy world would it even be an issue. this other guy coming along and trying to make this weird notion about the right to life. under the law it's not a philosophical or religious discussion, he wants to make it a law that women can't have an abortion. >> right. >> can't have one. change the law if there's a rape case. >> absolutely. he wants no abortions, no exceptions. no exceptions in cases of inc t incest, rape, or to protect a woman's health. over 80% of people when polled say that -- first of all, a

majority believe that abortion should not be a crime at all. but those that think there should be restrictions, over 80% say, no, the restrictions should not be there in cases of incest or rape or to preserve a woman's health let alone to preserve her life. >> can you imagine under this -- alix, general question -- a world without sharia law where you take a woman who has been raped, the victim of what has been in the past a capital crime, certainly a huge felony, 20 to 30 years in prison perhaps, and then she's told, oh, by the way, if you have an abortion, you choose to end the pregnancy the first couple days, you will go to jail. you put it all together with the 14th amendment stuff and the personhood stuff, that's the implication. >> it's part of a broader trend. we've talked about the shame and intimidation that's being directed towards women who are making choices about their own bodies. the thing that's most disturbing to me about this rape talk is somehow it's sort of undermined the severity and the criminality of rape. and that is inexcusable. >> how so? >> it's sort of being tossed around as a weird litmus test

and we're not understanding women who are raped are victims and the idea that this is all being conflated into a choice issue is missing -- >> it's like somebody jumped ahead of you in the cab line. >> exactly. like -- >> a little rough -- >> i think the president is right to be calling attention to this, but i don't think it's right for him to say -- and that's why we shouldn't have men legislating on women's issues. men shouldn't be saying this stuff either. no one should be saying this. sh shouldn't be acceptable to anybody on either side of the aisle. >> i think the important -- sexual assault victims need wrap around services, lots of wrap around services. what they don't need is the shaming and the blaming and the undermining, the attitude -- paul ryan clearly has an attitude, when he tries to change -- introduce forcible rape as somehow different from rape, what he's really saying is that women will routinely lie about being sexual assaulted just so they can go out and have that abortion. >> where is this that it's

happened? that's what is so weird about it. in other words they're tuk being more common case where someone would just for whatever reason blame rape because they have some weird attitudes because to blame rape you're charging in a police report, you have got to go in, get a physical, you have to go through the rape kits, you've got to charge somebody with a felony and a lineup perhaps, you have to take them to court, you got to follow the whole prosecution for maybe a couple years. why would anybody do that? >> not willingly and the vast majority of raeps to this day are not -- >> you only do it as your civic duty for justice. >> and the vast majority of raeps are not prosecuted. >> because women choose not to do all that. >> because the system retraumatizing women in far too many cases. 32,000 pregnancies per year result from rape. those are the pregnancies where the woman most needs to have absolute control over what happens to that pregnancy. there are women who voluntarily continue their -- >> maybe this is good in a weird way because it's going to remind

everybody what the president said on jay leno there. there is an election coming up. it's not just about who performed well in the first debate or the third debate. it's about who is going to fill the supreme court in the next four or eight years. the obama campaign has a new web i video out that extends the romney/murdoch link to paul ryan. before he joined the ticket his position lines up with murdoch. look at this research. >> even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> when it comes to rape, should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she's -- >> i'm very proud of my pro-life record and i have also adopted the idea, the position, that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life.

>> and the liberal group move on.org will not let the murdoch collection be forgotten. look at that sign over there. you can't see it from here but there's a banner -- i love these airplane signs, romney's gop, wrong on rape and women. terry, this -- i don't know where to start except i don't like to comparing anything to sharia but there's something about this theocratic notion that we're going to apply all our religious training and turn it into law and turn it into criminalization and it's not quite like stoning, but it has that same sort of impulse which is we're going to punish women. >> right. i don't think you're wrong. i think it's kind of the creeping talibanization of american policy. it is deeply, deeply dangerous for women, and i have to tell you the truth, i think mitt romney is in the thick of this very fringe but very dangerous line of thought. look, when he was in massachusetts, a woman in his own church, he tried to stop her

from having an abortion. her pregnancy was threatening her health and then she developed blood clots that were threatening her life. he couldn't talk her into stopping the abortion. she had permission from the mormon hierarchy to terminate this life threatening pregnancy. he went to her parents. what he said to this woman, and this is key, cameras not rolling and what mitt romney says to this woman, why should you get off easy? why should he get off easy? other women don't get off so easy. talking about getting off easy to terminate the pregnancy. i think mitt romney absolutely does not want any exceptions to criminalization of all abortion. >> what is this, the stepford wives? >> it's the stone age. chris, it's the stone ages. it's not clown car. clown cars imply automated vehicles. this is like the flintstones. i will say two things. one, i think it's high time we talk about these issues as far

as what they are. the president has been trying to sort of conflate a message of pocketbook and economic issues and social issues. these -- i think women vote on this. i think women vote on the notion you're going to turn the clock back not 10 years, 20 years, 50 pierce, 100 years. i think women will vote on that. i'm not talking about independents -- >> they have to vote this time. you don't get to vote on the justices. how can they put these crazy people on the court? how can these state legislatures prior photo voto. that's what happens when you lose elections. >> you can run on this message. you can show america where romney and ryan have 1250d on these issues for years and you can get waitress moms on this, soccer moms, you can get all kinds of moms. >> let's talk about the women running for office. a lot of favorites in the group. i'm not going to name them all. it's clear i like claire mccaskill. she's up against that guy, todd akin. >> she needs to defeat todd akin.

joe donnelly needs to defeat mourdock. >> noter game guy, by the way, means something to me. uch elizabeth warren lls she's pulling ahead in massachusetts. >> we've endorsed chris murphy in connecticut. >> there's the president voting tonight. there he is. i like the way we do this in this country, the guys vote, the women vote at the top and michelle voted by absentee a while ago but it's democracy. we can all do this. we all should do this, vote. he's probably voting -- where is he voting? >> in chicago. early voting. right. the early voting numbers have been very good for the president. >> i just got my application in. let's talk about this issue. you think -- see, i believe as a male and i have studied this, women have a lot of issues they care about, not just reproductive rights, but health generally. you people outlive men, you

people, any senior retirement home, one or two guys. very funny and everybody likes them but there's only one or two. a lot of women. guys say with any luck i won't need social security, your luck probably will run out. women live longer than men. they need immediate care and social security. you will be worried about your parents because women tend to be more attentive to the parent situation. >> the care taeker. >> and children. there's child development, seniors care. all that array of issues that you could call if you want women's issues. >> and very much at risk with the romney/ryan presidency. the romney/ryan budget -- the big picture of it is it transfers wealth from middle income and lower income families to the 0.01% of income earners, the millionaires and billionaires and women are not overrepresented amongst billionaires. women wage earners are way overrepresented in the lower --

>> and minimum wage. >> they don't have 401(k)s, pensions. two-thirds of minimum wage workers in the united states are women, and -- so they're paying out ever pocket as they go along, they don't have enough money to set aside for their retirement. they are very reliant on social security and certainly medicare. they don't have $6,000 a year extra that it will cost if romney and ryan get their hands on medicare. and by the way, if romney and ryan get their hands on medicaid, half of medicaid dollars go to support nursing homes in this country. thousands of -- >> and a lot of people impoverrish themselves to get their parents into these homes. there's no long-term care under medicare, only medicaid. why are you smiling? >> mitt romney doesn't know where he stands on the lilly ledbetter act on fair pay. >> i'll get back to you on that

one. alex wagner, thank you. for laughing at just the right time. and terry o'neill. the surge, what surge? we said it yesterday, romney gained after the first debate but the idea of a relentless romney surge isn't supported by the numbers. we have the numbers to prove it and here comes the cavalry. bubba is riding in to save the day. he already has colin powell today endorsing him on cbs. he's getting some hem. colin powell is afraid of the guys who will come in with mitt romney, the kind of guys on that bush policy team. and then tina fey takes on the akin/mourdock wing of the party. >> if i have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a $2 haircut explain to me what rape is, i'm going to lose my mind. >> more where that comes from in the "sideshow." finally, let me finish with

something that happened 50 years ago and what could happen five months from now. trouble. and this is "hardball," the place for politics.

we've got some new polling from some key battleground states. we start in virginia where mitt romney is up by one, 46%/45%. but a ppp poll in virginia commissioned by democratic leaning health care for america now has obama up by five, 51%/46%. next, wisconsin, a new mason dixon poll has president obama holding a two-point lead in wisconsin. meanwhile, the ppp poll has the president up six in wisconsin, 51%,/45%. in ohio pp p has the president up by two, 49%/47%. that was iowa. and in nevada a new ppp poll shows president obama up four over mitt romney, 51%/47%. a lot has been written about harry reid's vaunted get out the vote operation in that state of nevada. we'll be right back. ouncer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies?

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welcome back to "hardball." don't take that bet on romney's surge to the bank just yet. it seems president obama has stopped the governor's momentum in the numbers and the two candidates have settled into a tie in national polls, but the president tied or slightly ahead in most swing states. not only in most polls beginning to look a bit better for mr. obama, he has the support of two of america's most beloved politicians. bill clinton with campaign with the president starting monday in three key states, virginia, ohio, and florida. and this morning on cbs former -- well, everybody thought he would be president, republican former secretary of state colin powell is sticking with obama. >> i voted for him in 2008 and i plan to stick with him in twafl and i'll be voting for he and for vice president joe biden next month. i think this is an exciting race between two very, very capable men, and i signed on for a long patrol with president obama, and i don't think this is the time to make such a sudden change,

and not only am i not comfortable with what governor romney is proposing for his economic plan, i have concerns about his views on foreign policy. >> so who would you rather have on your side, my friend, michael, bill clinton and general colin powell, one of our few real heros in the world right now, or donald trump and john sununu? >> do you want to pass on that one? >> john sununu wants ton ambassador of the vatican in the worst way. i think that's what he he's up to. trump and sununu as your most famous surrogates. >> they're good surrogates and the president needs them because as this campaign has already shown itself, it's going to be close and going to be tight. so, yeah, i guess he's -- >> you take those two guys. >> that was good, wasn't it? >> i'll take those two. >> no. >> did you see how he slipped out of your grasp. >> he will go that far. he goes as far as trump. >> it says something about the candidates and the campaigns that the president has these two

great americans out with him and mitt romney -- >> he needs them. he needs them because he's losing. >> i'm waiting to see if mitt -- >> let's go with the numbers. you go the that shot in there. i'm open to any possibility when it comes to elections, i'd rather pick them right -- i still like my guys to win. the poll takers have started to change their tune. knit silver wrote a piece headlines in polls a romney's momentum seems to have stopped. he's got the odds of president obama's re-election at 71% by the way nate vil ser. "the huffington post" their pollster page has a story ka called presidential polls counter romney's surge myth. if you look at the pollster trend, shows the presidential race since august, you can see the president really started gaining ground in september, that was after the conventions, only to drop shortly after mitt romney surged after the first deba debate. now they're back to neck and neck. how long is the life span of a successful or unsuccessful debate? >> a bump is usually about ten day approximates.

>> and then it fades, back to where they started. >> this race is basically where it started a year ago or two years ago. >> i'm talking about is it back to where it was with obama ahead? >> i think it is, yeah. >> i think it's back where the two of them are more even than one being ahead of the other. i see an arc between that first debate and the last debate in that obama really hurt himself in that first debate, and it's still -- there's still residual effect from that and i think you're seeing that in the numbers. i agree with you, chris, and i agree with nate that the tide has slowed a little bit for romney at this point, that energy, that momentum has slowed, and it goes to what chuck todd said a few days ago whether or not the map and the momentum, obama's map, romney's momentum, come to a point. >> let's look at the president on leno. apparently a very good hit on leno. he made a humorous appeal to ohio voters talking about politics and entertainment mixing. let's watch. >> i know last year michelle

gave out fruit. did the white house get egged at all? >> no. it is true michelle takes this healthy eating seriously, but it is an election year so candy for everybody. especially -- and if anybody comes from ohio to the white house, they will get a hershey bar about this big. >> wow. >> it will be huge. >> you know, i don't know how to read people generally. i'm not a mind reader, but he does seem like he's got it in a sense. not got it but he's not sitting around sweating this thing. >> you can see why he's happy. there was a new ohio poll today that has the president up five. a poll from colorado, a local television station has the president up two in colorado. >> i saw another one that puts them even np. >> well, there's going to be a poll that comes out tomorrow, the 12 purple states including colorado, virginia, and ohio and the president is going to be i think ahead in all of those battlegrounds in the 12 purple

states. that's a shift, by the way, from where gallup had it just a few days ago where they had mitt romney ahead by two in the purple states. so this thing is -- >> let's try something else. whenever i used to be good before i was doing television six days a week. you can pick an election by thursday before. >> that's right. >> all you had to do was thursday before, when "the washington post" asked for your pecks, you had to project which way it's going. is that still true today? >> yes. >> no. here is why. there's been so much money invested in field this year, much more so than ever before because back in the day it used to be you had $75 million. now these campaigns have a billion dollars each to put -- >> how many points can you shift on a ground operation? >> i think you can shift two. >> i agree with that but i think to your point doing it the old school way i really think by that weekend, that

thursday/friday you're going to have a really good sense of how this thing is going to play out on tuesday because i think the voters have largely settled. the early voting returns are coming in. all these variables you'll be able to devine from that. >> we will. >> we're waiting for "the black swan" the surprising event of next week. i think there's going to be one. >> the president's cool on tv. his people in chicago, they're still a bit nervous. they see where these numbers could potentially still go. >> could be a late night. thank you, steve and michael. by the way, we decide the president is back even again. up next, president obama brushes off donald' tempts latest attempt to be relevant on this earth i should say. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people

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>> we had constant run-ins on the soccer field, and, you know, he wasn't very good and resented it. >> great line. back to "hardball." that was more of president obama on "the tonight show" yesterday weighing in on donald's attempt at political relevance. moving on, actress tina fey spoke at an event for reproductive rights last night. she says her intelligence is at risk with all this todd akin and the republican party. >> if i have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a $2 haircut explain to me what rape is, i'm going to lose my mind. i watch these guys and i'm like, what is happening? am i a secretary on "mad men"? what's happening? todd akin claims that women can't really get pregnant from a legitimate rape because the body secretes hormones -- i can't even finish this sentence without getting dumber.

it was tough to miss the news about richard mourdock's comments. republicans everywhere were being asked about their opinion. >> he said that i think even when life begins in the horrible situation of rape, that is something that god intended. is that something that you would denounce or -- >> i think i'd want to see his comments and -- is there a video of it? >> it was in a debate last night. >> i think i'd want to see the video or see the debate before commenting on that. >> that guy looks 10 years old. mandel seems to have finally seen the video and is just fine with it. today he came out in support of mourdock calling him a class act. turns out mandel is an old hand at failing to just answer the question. check out his rising frustration last month as a local newspaper board asked whether mandel would have supported the auto bailout. >> was the federal government right in stepping in to bail out

chrysler and gm? >> i think it probably depends on who you ask. >> i'm asking you as a candidate for the u.s. senate. >> sure. i am angry and feel terrible that politicians like sherrod brown and others supported a process that stripped hard-working retirees in the youngstown area of their pensions. >> that doesn't answer the question. let's get back to the question. >> i personally would have had a very real problem with stripping these delphi -- >> no. >> please, sir, don't put words in my mouth. the premise -- >> somebody has to put words in your mouth. all you do is talk in circles. >> unbelievable. it takes talking in circles to an even wider circle. up next -- how can anybody vote for that guy? coming up colin powell endorsed president obama today and warned about the neocon crowd that surrounds mitt romney. do we want to go back to the same people that took us to war in iraq. that's a good question and

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good afternoon. i'm taylor mathieson with your cnbc market wrap. the dow up 26, the s&p and nasdaq both posting 4-point gains. after the closing bell apple reported earnings that missed estimates but revenue was slightly better than people had forecast. meanwhile, amazon.com shares are falling after hours. the company posting a wider than expected loss and revenue that fell short of estimates. as for the economy, filings for jobless benefits fell 23,000 last week, which was a little bit less than expected. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." ♪

welcome back to "hardball." when former secretary of state colin powell endorsed president obama this mornings, he cited mitt romney's foreign policy as a major concern. this monday we saw romney present himself as a moderate emphasizing peace and diplomacy. for the past year and a half, however, romney has courted the far rights and the neocons of his party with his hawkish rhetoric. secretary powell pointed out the obvious, it's not clear who we would get if romney was elected. powell praised president obama's handling of foreign policy over the last four years. let's laisen. >> i also saw the president get us out of one war, start to get us out of a second war, and did not get us into any new wars and finally i think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. and so i think we ought to keep on the track that we are on. >> well, later today the president acknowledged the

endorsement by powell at a rally in richmond. let's watch. >> i was proud and humbled to learn that we have colin powell's support in this campaign. i'm grateful to him for his lifetime of service to his country, both as a soldier and as a diplomat, and every brave american who wears this uniform of this country should know that slox i am your commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. >> secretary powell remains one of the most respected names in politics, of course, across party lines. will his endorsement matter m colonel lawrence wilkerson was secretary powell's chief of staff and thomas riches. what do you make of our old boss' decision to get into this thing right when it matters with 12 days to go? >> colin powell has always had

an exquisite sense of timing, chris, and i won't pretend to speak for him but i thought he was bowl, i thought he was forththright, i thought he summed it up well. the president inhaired a catastrophic situation, banks failing, automobile industry collapsing, housing market tubing and he steadied the ship, he needs another term to do more. there's a lot to be done yet. unemployment is still too high but he needs a second term to improve on the improvements he's already perfected. >> the great thing about fighting men historically is they do know the importance of peace. you find very few hawks among people who have been soldiers, anwar sadat, the great george washington. they have been through it and they've proven their manhood, they just want to be wise. i think powell is like that. >> what do you think he was saying about the neocons? >> i think he was saying -- >> i'm talking to tom ricks now. >> i think he was saying if you

want to know where romney is going to be going with foreign policy, look to the people around him. what you see is a lot of people who are the neoconservatives who did advise going into iraq. so he's saying effectively if you like the war in iraq, romney is your guy. >> it just seems -- without being in any way comical about, because it's going to laugh about, people die in wars, there's always a war that the neocons are looking forward to. they're always pushing -- they never settle down and say let's take time out for a decade without a war and now it's iran. we all know that neither party can go to war but the way they go to war, what conditions they set and how they deal with the consequences are really critical and it seems to me the president is more to be trusted for understanding the consequences, tom ricks. >> powell was kind of an eisenhower republican. guess what? so is barack obama. eisenhower kept us out of vietnam. he explicitly said i don't want

to fight wars -- >> >> kept us out of suez, too. >> libya was an eisenhower type operation. don't only -- >> the hidden hand. >> yeah. only do the things that the united states is uniquely available to provide. so provide things like intelligence that other countries can't, but don't put boots on the ground, don't put pilots in danger. >> well, colin powell said he has concerns about some of romney's views on foreign policy. let's listen to the general. >> one day he had a strong view about staying in afghanistan, but then on monday night he agrees to withdrawal. same thing on iraq. almost every issue that was discussed on monday night, governor romney agreed with the president with some nuances, but this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign, and my concern, which i have expressed previous in a public way is that sometimes i don't sense that he has thought through the issues

as thoroughly as he should have. >> are you concerned about the people that are advising governor romney? >> i think there's some very, very strong neoconservative views that are presented by the governor that i have some trouble with. >> colonel wilkerson, let's talk about that. secretary powell, when he looks back at the iraq war and his role in justifying it before the united nations, what do you think he's thinking right now? >> well, powell and i have seen these people before, the john bolton,s the donald rumsfeld and dick cheney, and seen them with an insheshsed president and we have seen what they can do, lead the nation to a war that was unnecessary as richard hoss characterized it. i'm very worried as i think powell was saying and i'll say it even more candidly and frankly than he did. i'm very worried about these people with the new, that's what it is, inexperienced, fresh president, and their experience at bureaucratic inplay and so forth and leading this president

down to war most likely with iran. and that's why i'm going to vote -- i'm a republican just like powell, and i was looking for a good, solid republican candidate so i could vote for him. i will not vote for romney. i'm voting for obama. >> i watched romney the other night in that debate, the third one on foreign policy, and i heard strange words coming out of his mouth. he's a business guy, obviously he's a successful businessman, made a quarter billion dollars. he doesn't have any interest in the world, never shown any interest in the world beyond that. my question, where did he get that thing about how we're going to charge amd and, the president of iran, with genocide for the words he's spoken, not what he's done, but the words he's spoken about israel. that would seem to be a deal breker. you start charging with guy with genocide, you're not going to cut a deal with the guy. do they want war with iran? just period, do they want war are iran no matter what raurn does henceforth, colonel? the neocaans?

>> i think the question you ask has to be answered yes. there are gradations between the different neocannes but i think ultimately they want to paint the president, whoever it is, into a corner to say all options are on the table, including the military option, and then milk out all the other options, no diplomacy, no solution, and then have to use the military. i can see it, it's the same sheet of music, the same sheet of music. >> i know. they didn't tell saddam he had a way out. tom ricks, thank you for joining us. the name of your book is -- >> "the generals." >> good luck with that. up next, caroline kennedy is coming here. she joins us next on "hardball." she's hitting the campaign trail for president obama, and this is "hardball," the place for politics. managing my diabetes is part of my life,

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remember that bayonets and horses line from monday night's debate? >> i think governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. >> anyway, the romney campaign is using that in ads in virginia, florida, and new hampshire dushing down on his claim that the navy is at its 1345u8est level since 1917. the trouble is romney is wrong. the navy hit it's lowest number of ships under george w. and under president obama the flet has grown. the fact checkers give romney's claim a rating of pants on fire. not a good rating for a truth teller by romney. we'll be right back. zeebox would be a stretch limo. with this enchanting union, comes a sunroof she can scream from...

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material in his own memoirs. we me is president john f. kennedy's daughter carolyn. we're out here explaining this book and its importance. why do you think it's important 50 years later that we know what happened? >> i think we can learn so much from the past. you know, studying this crisis is really an exercise in studying leadership and decisionmaking and right now we're at really close to another presidential election and i think when you get inside a crisis like this and you understand the kind of complexity of these issues, first of all, it makes the world we're living in right now more interesting, but it also i think really can help people as they approach, you know, smaller crises obviously, but it's just fascinating because you really see how complicated these questions are and how dangerous that it can be. >> i think what came through in working on a book on this subject, i thought president kennedy's great advantage was the coolness, to slow down and think through the consequences. anybody can go ballistic. nick can say we'll show though reds.

if we had done that -- >> i think he said later that if he had only had two days he would have made the wrong decision. so it just shows how important to work through these decisions and i think he deserves a lot of credit for always having people around him who presented a range of options and he had the confidence to disagree with generals, to disagree with people. >> how about saying bombs away? >> absolutely. >> here's a guy that you, i, or anybody would say was a smart guy to listen to and he was wrong. here he is checking in with president eisenhower about what he should do with naki nakita krushchev. >> what if the shove yet union khrushchev attacks cuba, what's

your judgment as to the chances that they will fire these things off if we invade cuba? >> i don't think they will. >> you don't think they will? >> no. >> in other words, would you not take that risk? >> what can you do? if this thing is such a serious thing, we're going to be uneasy and we know what thing is happening now. all right. you've got to use something. >> yeah. >> something may make these people shoot them off. i just don't believe this will. >> well, there's the general, the great general who won world war ii in europe. he said, don't worry, kill a bunch of russians, they don't do anything. that is ike. we later learned that khrushchev was going to hit new york. if a quarter or tenth of our

missiles hit new york, there wouldn't be much of new york left. so president kennedy's thinking what would he do -- what would i do if i were him and thinking it through that he had his own hawks around him. >> right. that's why people give so much credit to the resolution of this crisis, is that he really thought about it all the time from both sides and how can krush chef say face and what will make it more attractive to him and that's something that i will keep in mind. these crisis are complicated and now there are even more actors. >> what are you going to do in the next couple of weeks? >> i'm going to be campaigning for president obama? >> where are you going? >> virginia, new hampshire, and who knows where else. >> what is your pitch? >> i think we're on the right -- he's done a great job. he's a man of courage, conviction, and judgment. and if you're talking about judgment and how important it is to have a cool head in crisis and how they are going to make decisions and who has done a

great job in keeping us out of war and building our economy back up, and certainly it's on the side of women and women's health and he absolutely is the right -- >> just across the street is american university. >> right. >> where your dad -- president kennedy gave the great peace speech which was so successful, it brought the soviets to the table. the first agreement with the soviets since the beginning of the cold war. let's look at that speech because i think it's the theme that you are carrying on here. here is president kennedy speaking on peace. i think it's his best speech across the street here. let's watch. >> our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures and we are all mortal. >> well, there it is. krush she have played that all over the soviet union. everybody heard it and then they had the treaty afterwards.

it worked. >> absolutely. i think it's to see that we have more in common that divides us and that's something that we don't make enough of. >> what do you think about romney? is he the hawk that he has all of these people around and got us into iraq be? >> you know, i think that we need to stick with somebody who has told us where he stands and that's president obama and i think most people really admire him and understand where he's coming from and i think he's put now forth the plan and i think there's really not -- >> you don't like this hardball thing, do you? >> no. we all cherish our children's future, we are all mortal and trying to look for the good in everyone but i see more good in president obama. >> thank you. that's not how i do business. the book is called "listening in." thank you, caroline kennedy. we'll be right back. ke to start. or protect your family with a will or living trust. legalzoom makes it easy with step-by-step help

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let me finish tonight with this. let's talk about what happened 50 years ago and what could happen five months from now. there were offensive weapons, some of them aimed at new york as nikita khrushchev tried to aim and nuclear world war. jack kennedy knew how things worked in the war and one step

it thinks it must take, other country takes the next step and suddenly they are at war. here's something else from reading history. countries that have weapon almost always end up using them. we used atomic weapons to end the world war ii in the pacific. kennedy decided to deal not just with the missiles in cuba but what would the russians do, what would we do then because he thought it out, because he knew his history, he was not an idealog. it's the consequences we have to live through or not live through. one thing for sure, if romney wins, he brings those crowds around work, the cheney crowd, the whole hawkish crew with him right back in with him. and that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts